Here let me share some of what I find interesting in the
discussion of negative surplus value.
1. Andrew's reading of the passage he cites in CAPITAL leads
him to ask how a positive surplus product can result in
negative surplus value. Let's put questions about how one
reads the passage aside and focus on the question itself.
2. For Allin, negative surplus value can arise when there
is a negative surplus product. That is, when workers consume
more than they produce, negative surplus value could be
produced. To be sure, Allin notes that this is only an
abstract possibility as workers are often paid out of what
they produce in a given period of production. But note that
in describing this abstract possibility Allin is assuming
a negative surplus product in order to arrive at even the
possibility of negative surplus value.
3. Given negative profits, attempts to develop an MEV based
upon the ratio between the aggregate of concrete labor time
spent in production and the price of the net output may prove
problematic. Here let's consider a couple of cases.
a. The net output is positive in money terms, profits negative,
and the sum of the concrete labor times is positive.
In this case the ratio of net output to concrete labor time is
positive. One thus has a positive MEV.
b. The net output is negative in money terms, profits negative,
and the sum of concrete labor times is positive.
In this case the ratio of net output to concrete labor time is
negative. One thus has a negative MEV. Thus for the constant
capital advanced to be positive in terms of money, one would
have to assume that the embodied labor time in the constant
capital is negative.
John